Chrono Trigger Walkthrough, Part Eleven: The End of Time

... huh. Well that's a thing. Leave the platform with the portals and chat with the old man for a bit of explanation. Now for a more thorough explanation, by way of walkthrough!

The End of Time serves as a hub for the remainder of Chrono Trigger. It's here where your team lingers while not in the field, waiting eagerly to jump into the fray. You can do a number of things while in the End of Time, and it unlocks a few other things as well.

Time Travel

The End of Time is, most important, a waypoint between eras. From here you can find portals that will jump you to Gates in several different eras - or in different physical locations within the same era. Each time you enter a Gate a new portal will pop up in the End of Time. Later in the game you'll also gain a mode of transportation that can berth itself at the End of Time.

Team Changes

You can only have three characters at any one time. Your other characters will automatically wind up in the End of Time, where you can change your party by speaking to any one idle character. You can also immediately change your character without travelling to the End of Time by pressing Y.

Restoration

To the left of the Old Man is a sparkle on a table. Approach it to instantly heal your party. Next to the table is a save point you can use whenever you wish.

Spekkio

Behind the Old Man is a door that will unlock when you try to leave the End of Time. Inside is Spekkio, a strange shape-changing creature that will - assuming you travel around the edge of his room clockwise three times - grant your team magical powers. He will only give magic to specific characters, in this case Crono, Marle, and Lucca. One other team member (Frog) can be brought to learn magic from Spekkio as well, once he rejoins you. Unlocking magic will allow you to learn a host of new Techs, and the Double and Triple Techs that come with them. Make sure you do this before going anywhere else.

After unlocking your magical potential you have the option to engage Spekkio in a magic-only battle, with all other commands disabled. Fight and beat him and you'll earn a slew of awesome items. Be warned - Spekkio is a powerful opponent, and as you get stronger, so does he. Gain in levels and return to fight him again for more chances at even better items. We'll address Spekkio in another article.

The Bucket

The Gates aren't the only way to travel through time. You'll find a bucket in the End of Time, to the right of the Old Man, that leads to 1999 - namely, to the Day of Lavos. From here you can instigate the end of the game by combatting Lavos. This is, needless to say, not advisable right now. Lavos has multiple forms, granted, but they'll quickly escalate into something you can't beat at this level. Wait until you've moved through the story naturally before taking him on.

Arena of Ages (DS Only)

Fan of the Pokemon series? You'll probably like the Arena of Ages. This specialized area will allow you to adopt a monster, teach it attacks, and send it into battle against another monster. Do enough work and your monster will change shape and become more powerful. You can gain some powerful items by participating in the Arena of Ages. We'll come back to it in another article.

Needless to say, you'll return to the End of Time a lot during your journey. For now, put Marle and Lucca in your party (you'll reeeeeally want these two for the next section of the game) and go through the top portal, to Medina Village.